The WB

The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB or simply WB, stylized as "THE WB", also known as Warner Bros. Channel and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Company (later bought by Nexstar Media Group), and Jamie Kellner, with the first acting as controlling partner (and from which The WB received its name). The network aired programs targeting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 34, while its children's division, Kids' WB, targeted children between the ages of 4 and 12.

On January 24, 2006, Warner Bros. and CBS Corporation announced plans to replace their respective subsidiary networks, The WB and UPN, with The CW later that same year. The WB ceased operations on September 17, 2006, with some programs from both it and competitor UPN (which had shut down on September 15) moving to The CW when it launched the following day, September 18.

Time Warner re-used the WB brand for an online network that launched on April 28, 2008, and then August 27, 2008. Until it was closed in December 2013, the website allowed users to watch shows aired on the former television network, as well as programming from the defunct In2TV service created prior to Time Warner's spinoff of AOL. The website could only be accessed within the United States.

Much like its competitor UPN, The WB was created primarily in reaction to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s April 1993 deregulation of media ownership rules that repealed the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (fin-syn), and resulting fear that networks would stop buying programs from independent studios. Another reason was the success of the Fox network (which debuted in October 1986) and first-run syndicated programming during the late 1980s and early 1990s (such as Baywatch, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and War of the Worlds), as well as the erosion in ratings suffered by independent television stations due to the growth of cable television and movie rentals. The network can also trace its beginnings to the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), a programming service operated as a joint venture between Time Warner and the Chris-Craft Industries group of stations and launched in January 1989. It is known that both The WB and UPN were recognized as the fifth major American television network after Fox, due to the intent behind both networks' creation, despite The WB and UPN's positions as the fifth and sixth national television networks, respectively.

Among the independent studios that the end of fin-syn affected was Warner Bros. Television. On November 2, 1993, the Warner Bros. division of Time Warner announced the formation of The WB Television Network, with the Tribune Company holding a minority interest. As such, Tribune Broadcasting signed agreements to affiliate six of its seven television stations, all independent, including the television group's two largest stations, WPIX in New York City and KTLA in Los Angeles – with the network. Only five of these stations, along with a sixth that Tribune acquired the following year, would join The WB at launch; the company's Atlanta independent WGNX would instead agree to affiliate with CBS in September 1994, as a result of Fox's affiliation deal with New World Communications, then-owner of longtime CBS station WAGA-TV. In contrast, New Orleans sister station WGNO did become a WB charter affiliate before joining ABC in January 1996 due to a similar affiliation deal between Fox and SF Broadcasting, owner of longtime ABC station WVUE-TV.

On December 3, 1993, The WB announced a separate affiliation agreement with Tribune for its Chicago flagship station WGN-TV (which originally planned to remain an independent station due to concerns about handling its sports programming commitments while maintaining a network affiliation); through this deal, WGN's superstation feed would provide additional national distribution for The WB as a cable-only affiliate, in order to give the network time to fill gaps in markets where it was unable to find an affiliate at launch. Although Tribune had a minority stake in the network, its stations were not technically considered owned-and-operated stations of The WB since Time Warner held controlling interest in the network's ownership.

When the network was announced, The WB planned to run a predominantly network-programmed schedule over time. It was originally slated to launch with two nights of primetime programming in its first year, and two additional nights of primetime programming, a nightly half-hour in late primetime, 4½ hours of weekday daytime programming and a four-hour Saturday morning children's lineup in its second year. By the third year, a fifth night of primetime and 1½ hours of weekday programming outside of primetime would have been added, followed by an additional hour of programming in primetime and 1½ hours on weekday afternoons by the network's fourth year, and a seventh night of primetime in the fifth year of operation. However, this plan was scaled back dramatically, partly to address potential sports-related programming conflicts on WGN and certain other affiliates (including WPIX and KTLA), as The WB launched with only one night of primetime programming; and by September 1995, the network added only one additional night (Sundays), along with a three-hour Saturday morning (later expanded to four, then five hours), one-hour weekday morning and two-hour weekday afternoon children's block.

Warner Bros. appointed many former Fox executives to run the network, including the network's original chief executive Jamie Kellner, who served as president of Fox from 1986 to 1993; and president of programming Garth Ancier, who was the programming chief of Fox from 1986 to 1989.